


In Due Season

by misha_anon



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Character Death, Fix-It of Sorts, Happy Ending, Origin Story, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-11
Updated: 2013-10-11
Packaged: 2017-12-29 02:14:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,881
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/999666
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misha_anon/pseuds/misha_anon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A brief idea of Jimmy Novak's life - both pre-Castiel and as a vessel.  But, it's really an even briefer story of Jimmy's death and what comes next.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In Due Season

**Author's Note:**

> _"Let us not grow tired of doing good, for in due season we shall reap our harvest, if we do not give up." Galatians 6:9_
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> As far as I am aware, there is nothing in Supernatural mythology that tells us what happens to a vessel's soul upon death, so I thought it was a great opportunity to make up my own. Also, Jimmy Novak's death has never been canonically established, so I put it where I thought it fit.

Jimmy Novak is, above all, a man of God.  He was raised in a good Christian home by good Christian parents.  Where others found the _fear of God_ at the little church on the corner, young Jimmy was overcome by awe and love.  Sunday mornings at the little church on the corner were where Jimmy Novak found a home for his heart.  

As he grew older, Jimmy's peers teased him for his devotion.  They heckled and pushed him around, but he clutched his ever-present Bible tighter and turned the other cheek.  He forgave them their ignorance and, when his family scraped together the means to send him to a private school built on Jesus' teachings, he breathed a sigh of relief and dove in with everything he had.  While some might have chalked up his acceptance to Greenville College on a full scholarship to his intelligence or his work ethic, Jimmy believed that it was God that put him there.

That belief was cemented when, three weeks into his sophomore year, he met Amelia Walker.  She was a strikingly beautiful freshman; full of life and kindness and in love with the mysteries of the universe.  The sound of her laughter filled Jimmy's heart with a joy that he'd never known and she shared his devotion to God.  Their courtship was slow and as easy as those things ever can be, with flowers and long exegetical discussions in the moonlight and blushing the first time he found the bravery to hold her hand.  The first time he kissed her - five months after he met her - was the most thrilling moment of his life.

Jimmy worked hard through college and found a job in Pontiac, Illinois as soon as he graduated.  Even for the year they lived on opposite ends of the state, he never doubted her love for him or their future together.  Secure in his ability to provide for Amelia and be the kind of husband she deserved, he proposed to her on Christmas Eve of her senior year.  Without hesitation, she said yes and they both cried.  Her only caveat was that they wouldn't walk down the aisle until she was out of school - a condition Jimmy was happy to accept in return for spending the rest of his life with her.

A week after Amelia graduated from Greenville College, she walked down the aisle to Jimmy's waiting arms in the little church on the corner from his childhood.  She was a vision in white with teary eyes and a look of adoration that he could barely fathom while they exchanged vows.  He was surprised and elated when, two months after their wedding, Amelia sat him down on the ratty couch in their tiny apartment and told him that she was pregnant.

Although Jimmy thought that perhaps she sometimes regretted it; Amelia decided that she would stay home to raise their child.  The day that child was born was the happiest day of his life.  In the hospital, after the doctor and the nurses had left him with his new family, they discussed for the final time what they would call the baby.  They decided on Claire after Amelia's grandmother and Beth after Jimmy's.  

Claire Beth Novak was the light of Jimmy's life and the reason he took on longer shifts and more stress and sought promotion.  When Claire was two-years-old, with the help of Jimmy's parents, he and Amelia were able to move out of their tiny apartment and into their first real house.  He'd been so proud of himself and his wife and continually head over heels in love with his baby daughter.  Life was not perfect, but it was good.  With God's providence, Jimmy believed there was nothing that could harm his little family.

That is why, when the angel Castiel came to him, his only hesitation in agreeing to be the vessel of an angel of the Lord was the need to know that his family would be safe.  Once that assurance was made, Jimmy gave himself up to God's will without second thought.  Castiel's consciousness filled what was once Jimmy's body, and they began a journey that took him to places he never imagined he'd go.  It was never easy to watch this body he'd lived in for over thirty years be torn apart and torn asunder, but he lived with the knowledge that no matter what happened, he would heal and continue doing what God had planned for him.

Jimmy became fond of Castiel.  He marveled in the angel's continual awe at the wonders of the world, at his strength and determination, at his growing love for humanity that sometimes seemed as though it would swallow them both whole.  When times were bad and the nagging part of his conscience reminded him he'd abandoned the wife and daughter he loved, Jimmy reminded himself that he had been chosen for this of all the billions of people who were available and he tried not to despair at the thought of never seeing his family again.

He got out once, Castiel sent back to Heaven in a blaze of light.  That was when he met the Winchester brothers personally.  His drive to go home and be done with the pain and suffering and sacrifice had overridden his ability to listen to reason and, to his eternal shame, he'd inadvertently led evil to his beloved wife and child.  When all was said and done, he'd had no choice but to allow himself to be dragged back into the battle between Heaven and Hell.  Even with the consequences of the decision laid starkly, he agreed to never see his family again because Jimmy Novak is, above all, a man of God.

He stayed with Castiel, living in a corner of the mind he once occupied alone and only catching snippets of the outside world.  He saw war and death and beauty, he felt the heat of Hell's flames and the crisp winter in Castiel's favorite part of Heaven.  He was there, struggling to come to terms with the fact that he would never be free from this existence - so much bigger a burden than he'd realized even as he agreed to be Castiel's vessel for the second time - when the Leviathan came.  Jimmy never dreamed he would welcome death, but in the end it came to him as an old friend.

The Leviathan twisted around the parts of Jimmy's body that were Castiel, stretching and screaming and turning everything inside of him to inky blackness.  When they walked his body into the reservoir, the body that had housed Jimmy his whole life expelled his soul in a final, aching breath.  As he floated toward the light, a hand reached out to grab him.  When he broke the surface, he looked into the kind eyes of a well-dressed man who was standing atop the choppy water.

"Hello, Jimmy," the man had said politely.  He pulled Jimmy's soul to stand with him, and together they'd begun to walk toward the shore.  "I am Death, come to take you home."

Jimmy wanted to ask for clarification, but for the first time in years he was free and so he decided that, if this was Death - either literally or metaphorically - he was ready.  Death clasped a hand on Jimmy's shoulder and calmly laid out a choice for him.  He could either go to Heaven and seek his peace, or he could stay here on these waters, mourning the loss of his body.  If he hadn't been so surprised by being given a choice, Jimmy would've laughed.  He'd finished mourning the loss of his body years ago.

When he hesitated, the man beside him stopped walking and turned to face him.  Standing surreally atop the reservoir only a step or two from the shore, Death looked him in the eyes.

"Castiel and his cohorts never would have been successful without your help," he said.  He gave a faint smile and looked to the sky, then toward the trees in the distance, then back at Jimmy.  "I would like to give you a reward before I release your soul, if you will indeed choose to come with me.  Anything your heart desires."

 _In the end_ , Jimmy's father always told him, _it comes down to living a good life_.  Jimmy lived a good life, tried to always choose right when given a chance.  He had given help where he could and empathy where he couldn't help.  Jimmy had invested his life in his faith, built a family around his faith, gave everything for his faith.  He loved and prayed and hoped and sacrificed and in this moment, when asked to choose a reward for all that he has given, Jimmy's soul falls to its knees without breaking the surface of the water and sobs.

Death, the kind man with wise eyes, reaches out a patient hand to once more touch Jimmy's shoulder.  He gives the man's soul a moment of grief and exultation, becoming nothing more than a quiet and steady presence in the middle of this maelstrom of emotion.

"I want to see my wife and my daughter," Jimmy whispers when he regains some measure of composure.  "I have to know that they're okay, that Castiel kept his promise."

In the next instant, Jimmy finds himself standing on the porch of the familiar two-story white house in Pontiac, Illinois.  There's snow on the ground and when he peers in the window, Jimmy sees a haphazardly decorated and gaily lit Christmas tree with presents stacked beneath.  He steps closer to get a better look and that's when he sees them.

Claire is a teenager now, as lovely as her mother ever was.  She has a bright smile and she's sitting beside a boy and another girl who look close to her age; the three of them sprawled comfortably on the couch.  Amelia walks in, with the same laugh that made Jimmy fall in love with her so many years ago, and she's looking back over her shoulder.  Jimmy's gaze follows hers as she comes fully into the living room.  Trailing behind, hand clasped in Amelia's is an unfamiliar man.

He's tall, with broad shoulders and dark hair and he's looking at Amelia with such fondness that Jimmy's chest tightens with emotion.  He tears his eyes away from the scene as Amelia shoos the grumbling teenagers toward one end of the couch and the man takes a seat on the floor beside the Christmas tree to start sorting through the brightly wrapped gifts.

"His name is Jacob," Death says when Jimmy's gaze settles on his face.  "Amelia met him two years ago and they were married just last month.  The other children - Evan and Grace - are his additions."

Jimmy nods and turns to look back through the window.  The teenagers are tearing into their presents, wide smiles plastered on their faces, cheeks rosy with excitement.  Amelia and Jacob exchange a look as he hands a small gift to her.  She leans to kiss him as she takes it and Jimmy takes a step back.

"They're happy," he says finally, feeling the ache in his chest turn to the pleasant warm buzz of love.  "They're safe and happy."

"They are," Death answers softly.  "Now it's your turn."


End file.
